Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

False Assumptions: Proponents of cap and trade point to the low cost estimates by the EPA and CBO as a reason to pass Waxman-Markey. The EPA underestimates that the bill would cost households an additional $140 a year.

Based on Consumption: The EPA's numbers are based on consumption changes, which are typically less than income changes, as families respond to income losses by saving less.

Uses Discounting: Discounting is a reasonable approach for comparing costs and benefits that occur at widely different times. However, costs of climate change rarely use a discounted rate this high. Without discounting, the impact per household is $1,288 in 2050. Adjusting household size to reflect a family of four raises this cost to over $1,900.

Assumes Rebates: The EPA assumes all the allowance proceeds will be rebated directly to consumers. This clearly isn't the case, since most of the allowances have been promised to industry.

No New Taxes?The loss that the EPA calculates doesn't include the cost of the energy tax to consumers, since the EPA assumes that all of the money is rebated. The cost of the energy tax is actually $4,600 per family of four in 2035.

The CBO Is Wrong

False Assumptions: CBO underestimates that the bill would cost households $175 in 2020. They assume that the carbon tax isn't a tax if the government spends the money. When have Americans ever seen all of a tax returned to them? It's like suggesting your tax rebate will be as large as the amount taken from your paycheck every year.

Numbers Don't Add Up: The CBO's allowance cost numbers don't add up. They say the allowance price will be $28. Since there are 5.056 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in the cap that year, that implies a $141 billion gross cost. They list $91.4 billion.

Hard to Believe: In the CBO's June 5 analysis, they projected allowance revenues of $119.7 billion, $129.7 billion, $136 billion, $145.6 billion and $152.9 billion for the years 2015-2019. It's hard to believe that the next number in that series would be $91.4 billion.

Ignores Economic Damage: The CBO doesn't include the decrease in GDP as a result of the bill. The GDP hit in 2020 would be $161 billion (in 2009 dollars) according to our analysis. For a family of four, that is $1,870 that they ignore.

Cap and Trade Is Wrong

It's a Massive Energy Tax

It Will Not Make a Substantive Impact on the Environment

It Will Kill Jobs

It Will Cause Electricity Bills and Gas Prices to Sharply Increase

It Will Outsource Manufacturing Jobs and Hurt Free Trade

It Will Make You Choose among Energy, Groceries, Clothing and Haircuts

It Will Be Highly Susceptible to Fraud and Corruption

It Will Hurt Senior Citizens, the Poor, and the Unemployed the Worst

It Will Cost American Families Nearly $3,000 a Year

President Obama Admitted "Electricity Rates Would Necessarily Skyrocket" Under His Cap-and-Trade Program (January 2008)

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, urged on by President Barack Obama, announced progress on Tuesday toward quick passage of legislation to fight global warming by reducing industrial emissions of carbon dioxide.

At a midday White House press conference, Obama said the "historic" climate change bill moving through the House would "transform the way we produce and use energy in America."

With incentives to encourage utilities, manufacturers and other companies to switch from higher-polluting oil and coal to cleaner energy alternatives, Obama said the legislation would spark a "transformation that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and confront the carbon pollution that threatens our planet."

I bet we have to do it NOW. Like we will get to see the text one night and it will need to be passed before the following evening, otherwise the public might wake up and realise how much they are being lied to, AGAIN.

We keep hoping they will change, but sometimes things seems hauntingly familiar.

In June's Linn County GOP Central Committee Meeting, a Precinct Initiative was discussed.

I STRONGLY support Precincts being organized. But one phrase kept popping up.

To Elect Republicans.

Now of course I ALSO want to help Elect Republicans,

But my interest in Precinct development has a different primary focus.

This system of political organization that has served Iowa so well for generations, has broken down.

IT needs no change but WE certainly need to change.

In the Past the Precinct Caucus was your neighbors, you KNEW your neighbors, Your families knew each other, possibly for generations.

When the Caucus met, it was an assembly of citizens who knew each other and chose from their numbers people they respected to represent them on the next level of political organization.

Today when we go to a Caucus few know anyone else in the room, They have no basis with which to gage anyone who wants a political position,'

So how to we fix this gapping wound in the Body Electorate?

We arrange for Republicans in a Precinct to meet and become acquainted.

Backyard cookouts.

Picnics in the Park

Neighborhood coffee meetings

Using the new Social Networking systems such as Face book.

Creating a PRESENCE in our neighborhoods.

Form a sense of Community and Connection.

THOSE are the reasons I find the topic of a Precinct Initiative energizing.

Not simply to Elect Republicans in the next Election cycle and then let them go to sleep until awakened for the following cycle

But to BUILD a PARTY.

Give Power to the People on the basic levels of Politics.

Because they are in fact the Foundation of Democracy.

The Party is not the officers at the County, State and National Levels.

Not our Elected Officials.

It is WE who are the Party.

They exist to serve and fulfill OUR wishes.

It is said

If He Knows and Knows that He Knows

He is Wise Follow Him

If He Knows Not and Knows Not that He Knows Not

He is a Fool Shun Him

If He Knows Not and Knows that He Knows Not

He is a Child Teach Him

But if He Knows and Knows Not the He Knows?

He is Asleep Waken Him.

Friends.

We have been asleep.

And In our Slumber?

Things have not gone well.

It is time in the words of Yamamoto Isoroku

For the Sleeping Giant to Awaken

and perhaps be filled with a Terrible Resolve.>

We must take back our Government.

The Battle lines are drawn and the War is not to be fought or won

in distant Capitals but on the sidewalks of our Blocks and Streets.

Gather together, Talk to your Neighbors,

All the other desires, Election Republicans, Gathering Volunteers

Collecting Donations?

They will FOLLOW as Healthy byproducts of a Political Base that rests on a Sound Foundation rather than the Shifting Sands of we must do anything, we must ignore violations of our basic Core Beliefs just to amass numbers.

There are always those who value, Tranquility over Disruption,even if the disruption leads to a better, Freer Life

They are with us now, as they were at the Birth of this Republic.

Those who do not wish to enter into a Stuggle for Democracy

To Them one of Our Founding Fathers said.

Samuel Adams

American Patriot & Politician

1722 - 1803

If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitudegreater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from usin peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch downand lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly uponyou, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.

It is the signal that you face a gauntlet, which if not traversed successfully will result in the wrathful glares of wives and mothers, the teary eyes of toddlers and

The knowledge that Daddy has RUINED Christmas or a Birthday, whichever the case may be.

But be of Good Cheer Fathers and Husbands, for there IS Hope.

There is a simple Binary, Two Step Program of Recovery, which will enable you to sail through those troubled waters and emerge on the other side victorious and the Family Hero, instead of the Family Villain

They are

1) READ the Directions!

and what is more Important

2) FOLLOW the Directions!

These two Rules will carry you in good stead all the Days of your Life and in any Trials you may encounter.

The correct assembly of a County Central Committee has some characteristics in common with the ordeal of putting together the annual Christmas or Birthday gifts.

We started off with Central Committee 2007 it was to some extent complex, but not unduly.

It had a 4 part Executive Board much like the current model and a Central Committee Body composed of various and sundry Sub-Committees, a single Meeting Location and County Party Office.

Now Central Committee 209 Build A was much streamlined,

It had the same 4 part Executive Board, but an attempt was made to run that as a Stand Alone system. The single Meeting Location was replaced by a menu of options and the County Party Office was eliminated for the sake of steam lining.

There were some problem that arose. The isolated Central Committee Body and the Standalone Executive Board developed a VERY severe feedback problem resembling the situation that arises when a microphone is placed too close to a speaker.

A very high pitched angry sounding squeal arose and the functionality seemed to be lacking.

That to do?

I suggest the same thing the Wise Husband and Father decides when he realizes that Tab A will NOT fit into Slot A because Tab B seems to be already inserted.

That is take the device apart spread out the constituents and READ the Directions!

In the case of assembling County Central Committees, the directions we need to concern ourselves with are :

Cedar Rapids Independance Day "Taxed Enough Already" Tea Party

Basic Info

Sending a message to the government that they need to stop spending our money on wasteful crap. People are meeting up under the aluminum tree in downtown between 1st ave and I380.

Date and Time to bel announced.

Please visit crteaparty.org for information, updates, or details.

This is a not partisan group or and anti Democrat or Obama group, both Republicans and Democrats are responsible for waste. We are not against any party or person but against out of control government spending and waste.

Group Type

This is an open group. Anyone can join and invite others to join.

Admins

Events

It would appear to be about an attempt to quietly raise some more of our Taxes.

I have a friend of mine on the CR Public Library Board of Trustees and he was the one lone “no” vote on the budget for 2010 that included a property tax levy increase figured into it. Now comes the actual vote to go on record for a recommendation to pursue a property tax increase – it will take place this Thursday at 4:00 PM while the rest of civilization is actually working.

The agenda action item is for an intent to pursue a 27 cent library levy increase up from the current 8 cent special library levy – an increase of 19 cents (you raise about one million dollars in revenue for every 16 cents on the levy) so this will be an increase in excess of $ 1 million dollars in additional property taxes. This recommendation goes forward from the Library Board of Trustees to the City Council that also has to vote on this – but a recommendation from an independent commission, like the Library board of trustees, gives them the cover to “do the will of the people”.

What my friend is looking for is a little support and a little attention to be drawn to this matter; the quicker you can get out in front of an issue like this, the more attention that can be brought to it and the better the chance the Council may pare it back – or with enough heat, reject the increase in total. Otherwise this could slide thru from the Library Board on a Thursday afternoon without even being covered and slipped onto next week’s “consent” agenda at the Council meeting for a voice vote – in other words, a done deal.

I am advising him to use the term “Culture of Delay” in his remarks in urging the rest of the Library Board to vote against this tax increase recommendation; Brian Fagan is the Council liaison to the Library Board and has been counseling them on how to pursue this course of action. For instance

we know that the damage done to the existing main library is in excess of 50% of pre flood value so FEMA pays for an entire new one.

However there are only two options, either raze the existing structure and build on the same site with protections against the 100 year flood event. Or second, build on a new site outside of the flood plain (like Westdale for example).

Instead of making a decision and settling with FEMA which would allow for a release of funds from them for not just a building, but also for contents – this property tax increase is being proposed to largely pay for new materials to replace, in the interim, what was lost in the flood.

Call me cynical and suspicious, but to these jaundiced eyes it looks like an attempt to raise taxes and if one opposes the raise then one is mean spirited and does not care about the damage done to the Community by the flood

AND

Get the FEMA money as well, later, Then keep the tax hike because during the shuffle no one will notice?

Remember I made the title of this

Having YOUR Cake and Eating it Too

Not

Having THEIR Cake and Eating it Too.

They are not going to be paying the higher property Tax, YOU will.

Keep a weather eye out for the July 4th Taxed Enough Already Rally

and spread the word about this Property Tax Hike

UPDATE: Tim Pugh forwarded the Library's Responce to me.

I'd be happy to respond to this. FEMA covers our lost materials but the proposed levy increase would be for money to run our facility not for items lost in the flood. As you may remember even preflood, the library was incredibly challenged from an operating funding perspective. While FEMA/State/IJOBS will pay for a substantial portion of the capital cost of building a new building, the library levy is important because we need the operating funds to run the facility. It is absolutely critical that we have this support from the community. I can really bottom line this library levy. It really boils down to the square footage that we can support from an operational funding perspective.

We’d like to come back better than before

– with the passage of the levy, we can do that and build a beautiful new facility that will meet the needs today and of future generations. If we can’t pass a library levy, it calls into question whether we can even afford to operate a building the size that we had preflood. That’s how serious this is.

Investigators with the Library's Office of the Inspector General have raised a string of objections after Congress stripped them of their ability to buy and carry firearms in the fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill. They could get their wish

Don't try to swipe a book from the Library of Congress -- library investigators might soon be getting their guns back.

Investigators with the Library's Office of the Inspector General have raised a string of objections after Congress stripped them of their ability to buy and carry firearms.

Though the office has carried firearms in the course of its duties for the past 15 years, and inspector general agents at other federal agencies do the same, lawmakers inserted language into the fiscal year 2009 omnibus spending bill, which was signed into law in March, that prohibited the library's officers from using federal funds to "purchase, maintain or carry" firearms.

They cited an apparent "separation of powers" concern -- the library's investigators are deputized by the U.S. Marshals, which falls under the executive branch, but they investigate abuses in the Library of Congress, which falls under the legislative branch.

Inspector General Karl Schornagel cried foul.

"It's never been questioned until just recently," he told FOXNews.com. "Consider that we've been doing this for 15 years, we're very successful."

The office wrote in its semiannual report to Congress in March that the decision would "impede" investigations. It also received an opinion in April from the Government Accountability Office that there is no legitimate "separation of powers" concern.

Schornagel said the IG's agents just want to be "made whole again."

Crimes against the Library of Congress take many forms. The IG's office investigated child pornography, embezzlement, identity theft and credit card fraud in the last fiscal year, according to its own accounting. It executed 13 search warrants and served 19 subpoenas, while winning one guilty plea and conviction.

While investigating crimes in and against the Library of Congress might not sound like the most dangerous job, another official in the inspector general's office said most of their investigations take them off site, into some dangerous neighborhoods in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and other states.

Though no agent with the Library's IG office has ever fired a gun in the course of duty, Schornagel said much of his agents' work "requires a firearm." He said there's always the chance a suspect could get violent -- plus the guns can be a deterrent to violence during searches and arrests

They can blow that Separation of Powers Blue Smoke all they wish, WE know the reason that they want to take Guns away from anyone, anywhere that they can is because they think'

Guns are ICKY

The Real Scary part is that these are the same people who are in charge of the SECURITY and Defence of this Nation?

Black Panthers had wielded weapons, blocked polls

Justice Department political appointees overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day, according to documents and interviews.

The incident - which gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube - had prompted the government to sue the men, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring would-be voters with the weapon, racial slurs and military-style uniforms.

Career lawyers pursued the case for months, including obtaining an affidavit from a prominent 1960s civil rights activist who witnessed the confrontation and described it as "the most blatant form of voter intimidation" that he had seen, even during the voting rights crisis in Mississippi a half-century ago.

Some time back I heard a radio personality from Cincinnati, Mike McConnell say something I thought very profound.

He said that when we use terms like Reverse Discrimination, it is wrong, because we are accepting something that is not true.

That there is a third state in addition to Discrimination and Not Discrimination.

That is one of the Big Lies that some think can become truth if it is repeated loud enough and often enough.

THIS Man believed differently,

On 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

Dr Martin Luther King said, I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where

they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

He did not say, "I have a dream that one day it will be OUR turn to intimidate Voters."

It would seem that some Political Appointees in our Government don't know that,